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Photo: Gianluca Masi, Virtual Telescope Project. Background information: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Legacy (STScI/AURA) – a collaboration between ESA and Hubble. Created by Anthony Wood in Canva.
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Tune in on Sunday (November 30) to see live telescopic images as near-Earth asteroid (433) Eros appears to fly past Earth. Andromeda Galaxycourtesy of a livestream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Institute in partnership with the Asteroid Foundation.
Sunday live broadcast is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm EST (2000 GMT) and will include expert commentary from Virtual Telescope Project founder Gianluca Masi, as well as live images of Andromeda and Eros taken from the organization's wide-field robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy—weather permitting, of course.
“Having such an important near-Earth space asteroid just a couple of degrees from the legendary Andromeda Galaxy “Messier 31 is a precious opportunity to share both the importance of such small planets and the beauty of our cosmic neighbor, the island universe of Messier 31,” Masi told Space.com in an email.
In 1898, Eros became the first almostEarth The asteroid was ever discovered and was later visited by NASA's NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) spacecraft Shoemaker. Upon reaching the object, the probe first circled the 20-mile-wide (33-kilometer) body and then, on February 12, 2001, made the first-ever landing on an asteroid.
Eros will be just 37 million miles (60 million kilometers) from Earth when it passes within two degrees of Andromeda's core on the night of November 30. spiral galaxy It itself will be located a staggering 2.5 million light years from our solar system.
Use Cassiopeia to point the way to the Andromeda Galaxy. | Photo: Created by Anthony Wood in Canva.
“Due to its large size, Eros will shine at a distance of about magnitude 10 over several weeks, making it easy to observe even with a modest 60mm telescope,” Masi wrote in a separate email to Space.com.
Magnitude is a value used by astronomers to measure the brightness of an object in the night sky: the lower the value, the brighter the object.
Do you want to see a wandering asteroid with your own eyes? Both Eros and Andromeda can be found high above the eastern horizon a few hours after sunset on November 30th. constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda using a handy astronomy app to find stars. Then find the top three stars and use them to point the way to Andromeda, as shown on the search map above.
Be sure to check out our review best binoculars And telescopes for studying the night sky in 2025.
